At Least Auto Exhausts Will Be Cleaner

August 01, 1992

Tougher auto-emission tests are on the way for Connecticut and many other parts of the nation. New federal standards are eventually expected to reduce smog by about 30 percent and cut carbon monoxide pollution by more than half.

But, typical of the inconsistency that has become the hallmark of its environmental policies, the Bush administration is at the same time relaxing pollution controls on big industry.

More than 100 million Americans live in areas -- including Connecticut -- that already violate federal smog and carbon monoxide safety levels. Automobiles are the major source of these pollutants. The state's emission test on idling engines of automobiles and small trucks is of limited effectiveness.

New federal mandates soon will require the testing of vehicles on a treadmill under simulated driving conditions for about four minutes. Sophisticated computer tailpipe samplings of the engines under acceleration and braking will give accurate readings of the output of smog and carbon monoxide, as well as of ozone-forming nitrogen oxide. Other tests will look for escaping fuel vapors.

The new tests, which are said to be three times more effective than existing ones, will be required only every other year. Up to one-third of the autos tested are expected to flunk them the first time through, compared with the current failure rate of under 10 percent.

But what about the other major source of air pollution -- the smokestacks? Thanks to the President's Council on Competitiveness, presided over by Vice President Dan Quayle, 34,000 plants will be allowed to pour tens of millions of additional pounds of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere.

Mr. Bush justifies increased discharges on economic grounds. Tight controls will make American industry non-competitive, the White House argues, despite evidence to the contrary.

In addition to loosening controls, Mr. Bush has let many of the implementation dates of the 1990 Clean Air Act slip during this election year. In fact, a federal district judge in Brooklyn forced the administration to issue the new auto-emission rules last month instead of in January, as the White House had planned. The tests, which were supposed to be in use by Nov. 15, won't be ready until

July 1994.

Regulations requiring cleaner-burning masstransit bus engines are eight months overdue. Many other rules are late as well.

Mr. Bush earns a brownie point for toughening auto-emissions tests and loses two points for tolerating increased pollution from smokestacks